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I recently took my car in for an oil change and the mechanic mentioned the valve cover gaskets were leaking and needed to be changed pretty soon. Is this something that is relatively easy on these cars as a dyi? Also is this problem common the valve cover gaskets were just changed on this car a little over a year ago and barely any miles were put on it.
Nobody has ever tried this job themselves? Just curious if this is something that should be done by a trained mercedes merchanic the instructions seem relatively easy but I don't want to break my engine.
I bought the gaskets and sealant to do it myself. It seems pretty straight forward.
remove coil packs.
remove valve covers and inspection plates.
clean.
appy sealant for inspection plates.
install new gaskets.
install covers.
install coils.
I was ready to do this myself, but my car ended up at the dealer for another item so I took the lazy way out and had them do it. $640 and my advisor mentioned it was taking the mechanic longer than he anticipated (whatever that means). Needless to say, its been 2 weeks and I am bringing it back because the passenger side is still leaking midway down the outboard side.
FWIW.
John
I bought the gaskets and sealant to do it myself. It seems pretty straight forward.
remove coil packs.
remove valve covers and inspection plates.
clean.
appy sealant for inspection plates.
install new gaskets.
install covers.
install coils.
I was ready to do this myself, but my car ended up at the dealer for another item so I took the lazy way out and had them do it. $640 and my advisor mentioned it was taking the mechanic longer than he anticipated (whatever that means). Needless to say, its been 2 weeks and I am bringing it back because the passenger side is still leaking midway down the outboard side.
FWIW.
John
My main concern is really just the torquing of everything is that something that if not done exact can destroy the entire engine? Also was wondering if it's worth it to change the spark plugs at this time... the car is around 85k miles and is 10 years old is this a change you would just do or should I wait for notification from the on board display.
On a side note how did the dealership repair your gaskets i've been seeing that some use some sort of sealant and no gasket at all.. .infact the side that is leaking on my car now has only sealant it appears and no rubber gasket not sure if the previous owner took it to some mechanic that cut corners or if this is how mercedes does it.
The main valve covers themselves have rubber gaskets. The inspection covers ON the valve covers have the sealant.
They dont repair them, they replace them.
John
The main valve covers themselves have rubber gaskets. The inspection covers ON the valve covers have the sealant.
They dont repair them, they replace them.
John
Yea on my vehicle I can see the drivers valve cover is being held on with some sort of jb weld or something.... which is the inspection cover not familiar with this part?
Its the smaller cover on top of each valve cover. Approx 8-10" long.
Oh ok is changing the inspection plates normally part of the job? Everywhere i've read just says remove valve cover>take off old gasket> clean gasket area> apply new gasket> replace valve cover.
I further inspected my engine bay and was wondering if this looks like an engine in need of valve cover replacements.. to me it doesn't look to bad I cant say I smell burning but my sense of smell is pretty bad anyway so I wouldn't know if its breaks or just heat or whatever.
Just remember to only use the factory gaskets. The aftermarket ones aren't thick enough and when torqued to spec. won't crush as they should.
I had to do mine twice after using the wrong (aftermarket) rubber gaskets.
01-11-2016, 01:20 AM
